- 1727 Walden Ln SW, Rochester, MN 55902
- 507-282-5209
- office@uurochmn.org
We are glad to share some hopeful news with you! This past week, our church leadership received a potential offer to buy our current building. After being on the market for nearly two years with price reductions and several visits, this is our first formal offer! We are grateful it is within our expected budget range. The Building Our Future team, staff, and your Board of Directors have been in conversation and discernment, and are currently in the midst of negotiating through realtors. This is a promising development, and could move quickly! While we are hopeful, much remains in process and not finalized. The timing of a sale, transitional space to meet, a final design of our new building, and how to honor our current space are all being thoughtfully explored.
Many of you know we have been in a building process for a new church home since 2018. We have been designing and planning for a new building across from Century High School, on what we can now call Eliza Place. While our budget has had to adjust for various reasons over the years, and the last few months, we are excited to be getting closer to a phased build plan!
This is an exciting threshold! Please stay tuned as this process develops for updates and opportunities for conversation.
As we often sing,
it will be hard, we know, and the road will be muddy and rough,
but we’ll get there – heaven knows how – but we know we will.
On the journey together, Rev. Luke Stevens-Royer, First UU Board of Directors, and the Building Our Future team.
Building Our Future Capital Campaign Beginning June 1, 2025, we will be entering our 2nd year of our 3-year Capital Campaign for our future church home. A few months ago, the Building Our Future (BOF) Team told the congregation that we were pausing the architectural phase of the building process. This does not mean progress hasn’t been made. The BOF team has been busy submitting the Site Development Plan (SDP) to the city to review. The plan has been returned for revisions (as expected). We have extended our contract with our civil engineering firm, Widseth, to move us through the complete of the SDP. The BOF team will hold a forum on Wednesday, May 7, updating the congregation on where we are now and where we are going in this process. In the meantime, the Capital Campaign is continuing. The new church year begins on June 1, 2025, and year 2 of the Capital Campaign begins June 1, 2025 ,as well. Our Financial Administrator, Amy Nelson, created the graphs below to illustrate where we are in the Capital Campaign process. While the building process may have slowed down, it has not stopped. Your contributions are being spent on engineering needs and all monies collected and not used are being invested into multiple CDs in staggered length of terms.
September 28, 2025 – Walden Lane Building Update
We are glad to share some hopeful news with you! This past week, our church leadership received a potential offer to buy our current building. After being on the market for nearly two years with price reductions and several visits, this is our first formal offer! We are grateful it is within our expected budget range. The Building Our Future team, staff, and your Board of Directors have been in conversation and discernment, and are currently in the midst of negotiating through realtors. This is a promising development, and could move quickly! While we are hopeful, much remains in process and not finalized. The timing of a sale, transitional space to meet, a final design of our new building, and how to honor our current space are all being thoughtfully explored.
Many of you know we have been in a building process for a new church home since 2018. We have been designing and planning for a new building across from Century High School, on what we can now call Eliza Place. While our budget has had to adjust for various reasons over the years, and the last few months, we are excited to be getting closer to a phased build plan!
This is an exciting threshold! Please stay tuned as this process develops for updates and opportunities for conversation.
As we often sing,
it will be hard, we know, and the road will be muddy and rough,
but we’ll get there – heaven knows how – but we know we will.
On the journey together,
Rev. Luke Stevens-Royer, First UU Board of Directors, and the Building Our Future team.
Something you can do now:
Start saving boxes and/or totes. If you want the totes returned to you, write your name and phone number on them. We will let you know when you can begin bringing these to the church.
May 7, 2025 – Update to the 2024-2027 Building Our Future Capital Campaign Beginning June 1, 2025, we will be entering our 2nd year of our 3-year Capital Campaign for our future church home. A few months ago, the Building Our Future (BOF) Team told the congregation that we were pausing the architectural phase of the building process. This does not mean progress hasn’t been made. The BOF team has been busy submitting the Site Development Plan (SDP) to the city to review. The plan has been returned for revisions (as expected). We have extended our contract with our civil engineering firm, Widseth, to move us through the complete of the SDP. The BOF team will hold a forum on Wednesday, May 7, updating the congregation on where we are now and where we are going in this process. In the meantime, the Capital Campaign is continuing. The new church year begins on June 1, 2025, and year 2 of the Capital Campaign begins June 1, 2025 ,as well. Our Financial Administrator, Amy Nelson, created the graphs below to illustrate where we are in the Capital Campaign process. While the building process may have slowed down, it has not stopped. Your contributions are being spent on engineering needs and all monies collected and not used are being invested into multiple CDs in staggered length of terms.